Researchers: Work more stressful than paying bills

UPI News Service, 07/11/2013

A pair of British researchers said a study using a smartphone app indicates the only thing workers dislike more than work is being sick in bed.

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Alex Bryson, a visiting research fellow with the Center for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and George MacKerron, an economics lecturer at the University of Sussex, said their research indicates Britons are more unhappy and stressed out while at work than during activities including paying bills and waiting in lines, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The researchers, whose work was published by the Center for Economic Performance, said they used the Mappiness smartphone app, which allows users to share their emotional state in real-time while performing various activities. They said the app collected data from about 10,000 British workers.

Bryson and MacKerron said the only activity workers rated lower than being at work was being sick in bed.

"Although work can be beneficial, it can also stress you out and make you worried and anxious," Bryson said. "That's why we normally have to be paid to work in the first place, because in the moment, we'd rather actually be doing anything else."